John Bates Clark

DEFINITION of 'John Bates Clark'

An American Neoclassical economist renowned for his development of the marginal productivity theory of distribution. John Bates Clark is best known for his works on marginal utility, a revolutionary principal in economics.

BREAKING DOWN 'John Bates Clark'

Born in 1847 in Rhode Island, Clark was a graduate of Amherst College and taught at Columbia University for nearly 30 years. He was also a former president of the American Economic Association (AEA). Clark died in 1938. The John Bates Clark Medal is named in his honor. The John Bates Clark Medal is a prize awarded each year by the AEA to an economist working in the United States who is younger than 40 and who has contributed outstanding research to the field of economics.